The further and continuing adventures of the girl who sat in the back of your homeroom, reading and daydreaming.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Fail! (Plus Non-Failing Books And Geekery)

...So, I worked over two nights in a row 'cos of some really annoying stuff about which I have no intention of writing (it's dull, dull unless you're at the fulcrum). Fine, it happens. But I was going to go to Mom's to swap out a storm window for a screen in a door that faces the sunset. You can just about bake bread in the enclosed space!

Couldn't get through on the phone, went and messed with another project, looked up and... 10 p.m. :(

In other news, I seem to have a copy of Edison's Conquest Of Mars and a pair of Eric Frank Russell collections in the reading queue, right after a very interesting novel I'll be reviewing by and by. I also seem to have a late-1930s commercial ham radio transmitter which looks to have been much-modified in the '50s with an eye to reducing TV interference. --Have I mentioned how much more immune digital over-the-air TV s to that sort of thing? It is, which means I have an excellent chance of bringing the little transmitter back to more like when it was new. Look for updates about that at Retrotechnologist.

But the top of my list is calling Mom tomorrow morning and a visit to take care of that door ASAP.

I remember reading Edison's Conquest Of Mars when I was around eight or nine; right after reading War of the Worlds and The Last and First Men; those set the bar for a lot of SF that I read for some time.

"I saw to what extent the people among whom I lived could be trusted as good neighbors and friends; that their friendship was for summer weather only; that they did not greatly propose to do right; that they were a distinct race from me by their prejudices and superstitions."